Worship

The Service – What Shape Is It In?

Pause for thought
Why do we [usually] do things in a certain order at a service of Holy Communion?

Pause for thought
Does it make any difference what order the parts of a meal come in?
Or would you eat your trifle before your chicken korma?

A service in two movements...

On the road to Emmaus [Luke 24: 13-35], two disciples met Jesus, but of course they did not recognise him. They really met him [and realised who he was] after he had opened up the meaning of the scriptures for them, and when he broke bread to share with them.

At Holy Communion, we meet Jesus in his word and around his table. The first half [the Liturgy of the Word] and the second half [the Liturgy of the Sacrament] are equally important and need to be kept in balance.

The two high points are meant to be the hearing of the Gospel reading and giving thanks over the bread and wine. Both of these key moments need to be made our own as we receive the message of the Gospel [by having it applied in a sermon, or by praying it through, or by recommitting ourselves to Christ] and as we share in receiving consecrated bread and wine.

...but with four headings

The service is in two parts, but Common Worship has four main headings. This is because it surrounds the two high points of Word and Sacrament with the Gathering and the Dismissal. These two parts are given a greater emphasis than in the past, in recognition that they are essential times for coming together as a community of people to celebrate the Eucharist, and for going our different ways afterwards with thanks, refreshed and renewed by God’s gifts of word and sacrament.

During the service the congregation give due reverence to the name of the Lord Jesus and stand at the Creed and the reading of the Holy Gospel at the Holy Communion. When the prayers are read and psalms said or sung, we observe the locally established custom in the matter of posture, whether of standing, kneeling or sitting, as this may vary from place to place.

A bit more detail

The first part of the service may contain some or all of the following:

  • Hymns or songs
  • The Gloria, a 4th-century hymn
  • Bible readings [usually at least two, one of which is from a Gospel]
  • A sermon, talk, drama, interview, testimony etc to help people connect with the readings
  • Confession
  • A creed or affirmation of faith
  • Intercessions – the offering of prayers to God on behalf of others

These do not have to come in the same order every time – for instance sometimes it is better to have the confession as a response to what we’ve heard in the readings and sometimes it is better to have it near the start of the service, to ‘get right with God’ as we enter his presence in worship.

The second part of the service centres on the eucharistic prayer and receiving communion, but may also contain hymns and songs as well as:

  • Sharing the Peace
  • Prayers after communion
  • An opportunity to receive personal prayer
  • The blessings
  • A dismissal

In this half of the service, there is less scope for varying the order things come in – the blessing and dismissal need to come at the end, for example.

Sharing God’s peace

When we share the Peace, it is Christ’s peace that we share with each other. ‘Peace be with you’ were Jesus’ first Easter words to his Church, fulfilling his promise at the Lord’s Supper: ‘Peace I leave with you, my own peace I give to you.’ [John 14:27]

The Peace, in its normal position after the intercessions, acts as a bridge between the two movements of the service, and reminds us that we cannot in sincerity receive the sacrament without first showing that an integral part of ‘communion’ is a right regard for the relationship with each other as well as God.

It is possible for the Peace to be moved from its middle position in the service. Changing the position also changes the emphasis, for example:

  • at the start of the service it sets the scene, and is part of building the eucharistic assembly;
  • after the intercessions it offers a point for making peace before offering your gift to God [Matthew 5: 23-24];
  • before receiving communion it links the gift of peace with the presence of Christ;

Some congregations exchange ‘a sign of peace’ after an invitation by the celebrant [Priest]. Sometimes this is a handshake, but there is a good tradition of something warmer – an embrace, or ‘holy kiss’ [1 Corinthians 16: 20]. After all, a handshake between a married couple can seem rather stilted!

The Shape of the Eucharist

The most important things we do at the Eucharist are giving thanks over the bread and wine and sharing in them.

  • We give thanks in the Eucharistic prayer for what God has done for us, including his work as creator and his sending Jesus to be our saviour. This prayer is meant to be the vehicle for our thanks and praise.
  • We share in consecrated bread and wine as we show that we, diverse as we are, are all gathered together by Jesus around his table.

Two other actions lead to these key moments:

  • We take bread and wine and put them on the table so that we can give thanks over them. This may happen with a procession, where the bread and wine are carried from another part of church to the table.
  • We break the one bread in order to share it.

The ‘Deep Structures’

The fact that things may be a little different from week to week will not be a problem so long as we remember the two basic ‘deep’ structures of the communion service, the first being the exploration of the Word [John 1: 1-14] and the second being the sacrament of the Last Supper:

What shape is it